User Narratives

As a user…

Explorative Behavior

As a user, I want to find every burger joint in Harrisonburg that I have not been to.

Competitive Behavior

As a user, I want to know the most about all of the burger joints in Harrisonburg out of everyone in my friend group.

Frequent Behavior

As a user, I want to have updates at least every hour on my favorite, local burger joints.

Occasional Behavior

As a user, I want to know when the lowest wait times are.

Story Grid

Value Propositions

The first value proposition is that the app will allow users to earn ribbons every time you reach a checkpoint how many times you’ve eaten somewhere (silver, gold, etc.). The benefit of this is that it will allow each restaurant included in the app to be updated more frequently and, therefore, have more accurate data (wait time, specials, etc.), which is valuable because users will be more willing to learn how to use an app that is accurate/that actually works. This value proposition is geared toward the explorative, frequent user.
The second value proposition is that the app will allow users to create challenges with your friends to see who goes to the most burger joints. The benefit of this is that it will entice users to eat at burger joints more often and use the app more, which is valuable because the more users feel enticed to use the app, the more likely it is that the app can start making money off of ads without annoying the users enough for them to stop using the app. This value proposition is geared toward the competitive, frequent user.
The third value proposition is that the app will allow users to check mark once they’ve been to a restaurant. The benefit of this is that it gives the user a goal/objective within the app, which is to check mark all of the restaurants, which is valuable because this creates the addictive aspect of “I have to reach my goal” within the app and causes users to stay and use the app longer. This value proposition is geared toward the explorative, occasional user.

User Story 1

As a user, I want to find every burger joint in Harrisonburg that I have not been to.

Narrative 1 Pain

Tamara has gone to JMU for two years and loves going out for burgers with friends, but after living in Harrisonburg for two years, she feels like she and her friends go to the same three or four restaurants every time they go out. They need new places to go get a burger! Her and her friends don’t have cars, so they have to take an Uber everywhere, and with Ubers being pricey, they can’t afford to have the driver take them around until they spot somewhere they want to go. Google-searching doesn’t always provide the most up-to-date options. Harrisonburg is too big for them to walk around finding somewhere new. Since Tamara is known as the “burger guru” of her friend group, her reputation depends on her quickly finding somewhere new and good to eat, otherwise she’ll lose her status as the cool one of the group, and somebody else will step up.

Narrative 1 Solution/Happy Ending

Tamara and the other students in her friend group here at JMU have been going out for burgers every Friday night for the past two years. It was Tamara’s idea to start this tradition at the beginning of freshman year after the group discovered Billy Jack’s while exploring downtown during FROG week, so she holds the title of the “foodie” of the group. Lately her friends have been complaining that they eat at the same few restaurants all the time and they’re tired of it. So, Tamara did some research and found an app called Harrison-burgers. Once the app downloaded, she put in her name, email, username, and password to create an account. That took 30 seconds and was super easy. Then she began clicking on all of the different tabs that the app had to offer. She found one that said, “List of all burger joints in Harrisonburg.” She clicked on it, and there was the list. Dozens of restaurants appeared. The next Friday, she suggested Jack Brown’s to her friends. They went and fell in love with the place. The next week, she took them to a different restaurant, and this was the cycle for the rest of the school year. Her friends even told their friends about how Tamara was the girl to go to if they ever need suggestions on restaurants to go to. Tamara was the most popular girl on campus, all because Harrison-burgers gave her what seemed like limitless new options on where to go eat.

User story 2

As a user, I want to know when the lowest wait times are.

Narrative 2 Pain

Leroy enjoys eating at all kinds of different restaurants to get a burger, but just like most college students, he’s a busy guy, and “unfortunately,” he’s popular, too. His teammates on the club soccer team are always asking him to go out for burgers with them. He doesn’t want to say no, but it will often be a Tuesday night after practice, when he has so much homework left to do. His friends don’t do any research. They just pick a random place. Sometimes the restaurant they choose might have $5.99 burgers that night or a trivia night, so the place is packed. He won’t say no to his buddies, so he goes every time. Last night, his friends wanted to go to Red Robin. They got there, and it was so packed. Apparently, there was a little league championship game that night, but his friends refused to leave, and Leroy couldn’t drive himself home, because he got a ride with a teammate. The wait time was one hour, and they were there for an extra two hours. He didn’t get home until 11:30pm, and then he had two exams to study for and an entire five-page paper that was due at 11:59pm. He didn’t get the paper turned in on time, and he got a 55% and a 67% on his two exams the next day. As a result, went below a C- average for the semester and was on academic probation for the soccer team, which then made him “uncool,” and his teammates didn’t want to hang out with him anymore. If only there was a way that he could have discretely checked the wait time, and he could have had a reason to recommend a different place to his friends.

Narrative 2 Solution/Happy Ending

Leroy was about to leave soccer practice, which ended at 7:30pm, to go write his paper that was due at 11:59pm and study for his two exams tomorrow, when his teammates asked him to come to Red Robin to get burgers with them. He had so much homework to do, but he hates saying no to his friends. He also didn’t want seem lame by calling the restaurant to ask for the current wait time. So, he opened his Harrison-burgers app that a friend once recommended for his to download, but he had never used it, just created an account. He went to the map and searched “Red Robin.” A pin dropped on the location 0.7 miles away from his current location. He clicked on the pin, and a whole new page appeared. It had reviews, most recent updates, address, food menu, and CURRENT WAIT TIME. It was one hour. He then went to another tab and found Billy Jack’s, which had only a 10 minute wait time. He suggested to his friends to go there, and they agreed. He got home an hour later and finished everything he had to and maintained his B-average.